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No extension in deadline: Jakhrani 

The tobacco industry left no stone unturned here on Tuesday to obtain an extension in the 'lead-time' for printing of picture-based health warnings on cigarette packs and outers.

Their arguments, however, fell on deaf ears, as Minister for Health Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani ordered the Tobacco Control Cell to 'immediately' finalise the Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) for introduction of pictorial health warnings, and get it vetted by the Law Division, 'The News' learnt on good authority. "You will have to get picture-based health warnings printed within six months of the SRO being issued," Jakhrani is said to have clarified to representatives of the tobacco industry while concluding the meeting, which was also attended by Secretary Health Khushnood Akhtar Lashari, Director General Implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Shaheen Masud, and Asim Imdad, Talal Hakeem and Mehdi Imam from the tobacco industry.

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